Medical marijuana shop suddenly closes
Police were investigating outlet within days of opening on July 2
Operators of a controversial medical marijuana store on Somerset Street have closed up shop amid an Ottawa police investigation into whether they were operating legally.
Police said Friday The Greater Ottawa Health Advocacy Centre has been vacated. Officers from the drug unit went to visit the shop early in the week when they saw that it had been closed.
“We’re really going to change the face of Chinatown. There’s going to be a whole lot more smiling faces here,” the store’s owner Ryan Levis told the Citizen in early July.
The store, the first of its kind in Ottawa and operating as a non-profit, opened on July 2 and was quickly encircled in controversy for its lax practices around regulations imposed by Health Canada.
Under federal legal provisions, people requiring marijuana for medical purposes need to apply for a Health Canada-issued Authorizationto-Possess card or have a declaration signed by their medical doctor.
The Ottawa police drug unit began an investigation into whether the business was operating legally after Levis publicly said that he would not deny marijuana to anyone even if they didn’t have the proper paperwork to access it.
“I don’t believe in turning people away,” Levis, who considers himself a “community health advocate,” told the Citizen.
‘Everything will just get shelved. It’s pointless to expend resources on something that doesn’t exist anymore.’ MIKE LAVIOLETTE Ottawa police drug unit
Levis also told the Citizen that he had applied for a licence to operate but the Health Canada website showed that none had been approved even though the shop was already distributing the drug.
“The information we received was that they were selling marijuana to people who did not have medical exemptions and that it was also believed they were doing so without a licence to sell,” said Staff Sgt. Mike Laviolette of the Ottawa police drug section.
Laviolette couldn’t discuss details of the police exchange with the operators or details relating to their investigating techniques.
But, he did say that, at this point, the investigation is over since it’s believed the operators have gone back to British Columbia.
“Everything will just get shelved,” Laviolette said. “It’s pointless to expend resources on something that doesn’t exist anymore.
“We will keep an eye on things in terms of players and maintain contact with our (policing) partners out on the west coast.”
In June, Health Canada began its transition from a system of allowing users to grow their own marijuana to licensing producers to do so and then distribute it. The switch will take until March 2014 to complete.
It’s a move that Laviolette thinks will translate into more business-savvy people opting to go the route of distributing medical marijuana.
Levis, who left Ottawa for additional training after the controversy began, remained the store’s owner.
The Citizen tried to reach Levis Friday and his phone number was no longer in service.